pened
that they soon understood us and we them, either by words or signs, and
they have been very serviceable to us. They are still with me, and, from
repeated conversations that I have had with them, I find that they still
believe that I come from heaven. And they were the first to say this
wherever I went, and the others ran from house to house and to the
neighboring villages, crying with a loud voice: "Come, come, and see the
people from heaven!" And thus they all, men as well as women, after
their minds were at rest about us, came, both large and small, and
brought us something to eat and drink, which they gave us with
extraordinary kindness. They have in all these islands very many canoes
like our rowboats; some larger, some smaller, but most of them larger
than a barge of eighteen seats. They are not so wide, because they are
made of one single piece of timber; but a barge could not keep up with
them in rowing, because they go with incredible speed, and with these
canoes they navigate among these islands, which are innumerable, and
carry on their traffic. I have seen in some of these canoes seventy and
eighty men, each with his oar. In all these islands I did not notice
much difference in the appearance of the inhabitants, nor in their
manners, nor language, except that they all understood each other, which
is very singular, and leads me to hope that their Highnesses will take
means for their conversion to our holy faith, toward which they are very
well disposed. I have already said how I had gone 107 leagues in
following the seacoast of Juana in a straight line from west to east;
and from that survey I can state that the island is larger than England
and Scotland together, because beyond these 107 leagues there lie to the
west two provinces which I have not yet visited, one of which is called
Avan, where the people are born with a tail. These two provinces can not
be less than from fifty to sixty leagues, from what can be learned from
the Indians that I have with me, and who are acquainted with all these
islands. The other, Espanola, has a greater circumference than all
Spain, from Catalonia by the seacoast to Fuenterabia in Biscay, since on
one of its four sides I made 188 great leagues in a straight line from
west to east. This is something to covet, and, when found, not to be
lost sight of. Although I have taken possession of all these islands in
the name of their Highnesses, and they are all more abundant in we